WHAT SIM GWYNN WANTED TO SEE ME FOR.
Sim Gwynn was hungry, and that was the greatest misfortune which could
possibly happen to him. He was growing rapidly, and consumed a vast
amount of food. I pitied him, as I did any one who was kept on short
allowance, and I hastened to the house as quickly as I could, in order
to relieve what was positive suffering on his part. I intended to obtain
the food at home if possible; if not, to purchase it at the store.
Captain Fishley had probably harnessed the horse himself, for he and the
squire had gone away. I went into the house. No one was there but Flora.
Mrs. Fishley had gone, with her husband, to sun herself in the smiles of
the senator. She never liked to be left at home when there was anything
going on. In the buttery I found plenty of cooked provisions; for,
whatever else may be said of the Fishleys, they always had enough to
eat, and that which was good enough. "Short provender" had never been
one of my grievances, and I pitied poor Sim all the more on this
account.
Mrs. Fishley had evidently given the distinguished visitor credit for a
larger appetite than he possessed after his debauch the night before,
and there was at least a pound of cold fried ham left. I took a paper
bag, and put into it half the meat and as much cold corned beef as would
have fed me for two days, with a plentiful supply of biscuits, crackers,
and brown bread. I filled the bag full, determined that Sim should have
plenty to eat for once in his life. Thus laden with enough to fill the
stomach that had "nothing in it," I returned to the swamp.
I need not say that the hungry runaway was glad to see me. I pushed off
the raft, and poled it over to the fallen tree, where we should not be
disturbed by any possible passer-by. Sim looked piteously sad and
sorrowful; he glanced wistfully at the paper bag, and seemed to begrudge
every moment of delay. At the tree, I took out the contents of the bag,
and spread them on the log. Sim's eyes dilated till they were like a
pair of saucers, and an expression of intense satisfaction lighted up
his dull features.
"Go in, Sim," said I, as soon as I had spread the table for him.
"Thank you, Buck! You are a good fellow," replied he, warmly. "I knowed
you'd help me, and that's what I wanted to see you for."
I thought it would be cruel to interrupt an operation so agreeable to
him as that of eating, and I asked no questions. He looked grateful, and
satisfactorily demonstrated that the proof of the pudding is in the
eating. Though I was amused at his greediness, and enjoyed his appetite
almost as much as he did himself, I did not wish to embarrass him; and,
mounting the fallen tree, I walked upon its trunk so far from him that
it was not convenient for him to speak to me. He had it all his own way;
for I think it is mean to watch a hungry boy when he is eating, or to
take note of the quantity he consumes.
From my position I could see the stream, and the pile of lumber over
which I had moralized. I could not help thinking that something must be
done with those refuse logs and boards. I cannot exactly explain how it
was, but that pile of senseless lumber seemed, in some indefinite
manner, to connect itself with my affairs at the house. The thrashing I
had just received from my two masculine tyrants assured me that I was no
match for both of them. In a word, it was strongly impressed upon my
mind that I could not stay in Torrentville much longer.
I had a taste for river scenery. Every night, when I went for the mail,
I used to see the steamboat on the river; and I often thought I should
be "made" if I could make a trip in her. Ever since my brother wrote
that he should take us down to New Orleans in the fall, I had looked
forward with intense joy to the voyage down the river. In a smaller way
my raft had afforded me a great deal of pleasure on the waters of the
swamp, though the swift current did not permit me to embark on the
stream.
Perhaps the decided course of Sim Gwynn in leaving his disagreeable
situation had some influence upon my reflections. I had often thought of
doing the same thing myself, and only my poor sister had prevented me
from acting upon the suggestion. I had some money now. Why could I not
go, and take her with me? But I had not enough to pay our fares to New
Orleans, and there was no other place to which I could go. Besides,
Captain Fishley would not let us go. If we went by any public
conveyance, he could easily stop us.
"I have it!" I exclaimed, in a tone so loud that Sim was disturbed in
his interesting occupation.
He started from his seat, and looked at me, with his mouth filled with
food, his jaws suspending their pleasing occupation.
"Did you speak to me, Buck?" he called.
"No," I replied, walking towards him.
I looked at him, and realized that he was beginning to weary of his
task. Doubtless he felt it to be a duty to eat all he could; but he had
already disposed of the major part of what I had brought him, and was
still struggling manfully with the balance.
"I heard you say, 'I have it,'" added Sim, jumbling the words through
the food in his mouth.
"Well, I have it."
"So have I. That's the best meal of victuals I've had for a year. I'm
sorry I can't eat no more."
"You will get hungry again."
"Shall I keep the rest of it?" he asked.
"Certainly; and when that is gone, I will bring you some more."
"Thank you, Buck. I knowed you'd help me, and that's what I wanted to
see you for."
"I think I heard you say that before. Now, Sim, what are you going to
do?"
"I don't know," he replied, blankly.
"You have left Barkspear's. Are you going back again?"
"I don't know. That's what I wanted to see you for."
"Haven't you any idea what you intend to do?"
"Not the leastest grain in the world. That's what I wanted to see you
for, you see."
"But you wish to do something."
"I don't care. If I get enough to eat, it don't make no difference to
me. I shan't get much to eat if I go back to Barkspear's."
This seemed to be the great question with him. He was willing to work
hard for enough to eat. He was not a dandy, and the clothes question did
not trouble him. It was only terrible to be hungry.
"Sim, I'm going to run away myself," said I.
"What, from Fishley's?" he demanded, opening his eyes.
"Yes, from Fishley's."
"Don't they give you enough to eat?"
"Plenty."
"What do you want to run away for, then?" asked he; and, if the
provision question was all right, he did not think there ought to be
trouble about any other matter.
"They don't use me well, and they don't use my sister well."
"But they give you enough to eat."
"I would rather be starved than treated like a dog. My brother Clarence
is going to take us away in the fall; but I don't think I can stand it
till that time."
I took off my coat, and showed him one of the wales of the cowhide which
my tyrants had left upon my arm.
"But they give you all you want to eat," he replied, pulling away the
rags from his shoulder, and exhibiting some marks like my own. "I don't
mind them things much if they will only let me have something to eat."
Sim was a puzzle to me. He was all stomach. Blows were nothing; food was
everything.
"Where have you been since yesterday?" I asked.
"Laying round, looking for something to eat."
"Sim, we must build a raft," I added.
"What for?" he inquired, opening his eyes, as he always did when his
muddy brain seized an idea.
"To run away on. Do you see those logs and boards?"
"I see them."
"Well, Sim, we can build a big raft, with a house on it,--a place to
live in,--where we can cook, and sleep, and eat."
"Eat!" exclaimed he, opening his mouth wide enough to take in a
good-sized leg of bacon.
"Of course, if we live on the raft, we must have something to eat."
"Can we get enough?" he asked, incredulously.
"You shall have all you want."
"Goody!" shouted he.
"You must keep still about it, and not say a word to any one."
"I don't see nobody. I have to keep out of sight, or Barkspear will
catch me. I'm bound to him. I shan't tell nobody."
"In a few days we will have the house ready for you to live in; and I
will bring you all you need to eat."
"That's all I want."
"You can work on the raft, and I will help you all I can."
"I will work from daylight till dark, if I only get something to eat."
I pushed the raft over to the pile of lumber. I was quite excited as
soon as the idea had taken full possession of my mind. I was not
satisfied that the plan of leaving Torrentville with Flora, on a raft,
was practicable; but I could have the fun of planning and building it;
and really this was all I expected to do. If worse came to worst, I
could get away from the town with my sister better by the way of the
swamp than by the road. I explained to Sim more clearly what I intended
to do, and how to construct the raft. He was even more enthusiastic than
I was, for the scheme would enable him to help me, and thus pay for the
provisions he consumed. He wanted to go to work at once; but nothing
could be done without an axe, some nails, and other articles which I
intended to procure.
I left Sim with the promise to see him again in the afternoon, and
returned to the house. I was not attending school at all at this time,
as the winter term had closed, and the summer one had not commenced, and
I had nothing to do but work about the place. I went into the house, and
talked with Flora. I told her what had happened--how I had been whipped
by both father and son. She cried, and begged me not to disobey them any
more.
"If they treat me decently, I will do all they tell me, Flora," I
replied; "but I will not be trodden upon."
The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the wagon, and I went
out, in order that I might not be "tackled" before my sister. Captain
Fishley gave me an ugly look; but I knew he would not say anything
before his brother, and he did not. He told me I _might_ put the horse
up, and I did so. But I felt that the day of settlement would come as
soon as the squire departed.
At dinner-time I was sometimes required to stay in the store, and I was
directed to do so on this day. I selected a couple of stout
clothes-lines, a shingling hatchet, and put up two pounds of ten-penny
nails. I wrote down the articles on a piece of paper, and carried it,
with the five-dollar bill taken from my roll, to the captain. He gave me
the change, without knowing who the customer was, and I concealed the
articles in the barn. When I had eaten my dinner, and taken care of
Darky and the pigs, I started for the swamp again, with the goods I had
bought.